PM Modi, not Rajnath Singh, must answer on border issue in Parliament: Congress

Asking him to break his silence on China, the Congress on Sunday said Narendra Modi has become the first Prime Minister of the country who runs away from a debate on Chinese aggression towards India.

Coining a new slogan 'Cheen Par Chuppi Todo, Bharat Jodo' (Break the silence on China, unite India), the party accused him on running away from a debate in Parliament while insisting that Modi and not Defence Minister Rajnath Singh or External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar respond to the queries of MPs.

Congress' relentless attack on the ruling BJP on India-China border row came against the backdrop of the recent clashes between both the armies in Arunachal Pradesh's Tawang on December 9.

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As Congress Media Department Chairman Pawan Khera said the story is about a "Veer Sena, kayar raja (brave army, coward king)," party General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh told reporters in Rajasthan's Dausa that there should be a debate in Parliament as India is facing a big challenge from China in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh and how to tackle it.

"There is no politics in this. We all should talk in one voice. But the Prime Minister will have to tell us what the situation is and take all into confidence...Time has come to provide answers to the several questions we have. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, myself and Congress' Pawan Khera have raised some questions. On this, a debate should take place in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha," he said.

Insisting that the Prime Minister and not the Defence Minister or the External Affairs Minister respond to the debate, he said, Prime Ministers from Jawaharlal Nehru to Manmohan Singh, including AB Vajpayee have responded in Parliament in detail about how to face challenges from China.

"The present Prime Minister is the first Prime Minister who runs away from a debate on China. He never speaks a word about China," Ramesh alleged.

He asked what has emboldened the Chinese to try and take over the Indian post in the Yangtse area of Tawang aAfter two years of a protracted "disengagement". He said India has dominated Yangtse since then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi deployed forces there in 1986 during the Sumdorong Chu confrontation while asking "how have the Chinese dared to open a new front?"

Gandhi went to China in 1988 "when we were strong at the borders and after that visit bilateral ties became stronger" but in April 2020 all this came to an end, he said.

"He has given a clean chit to China by saying 'no one has come and no one is inside our territory'. Due to this clean chit, our bargaining position has gone down," Ramesh alleged.

Kheral said the government owes an answer as to why the Mountain Strike Corps was put in "cold storage" after the UPA established its first division in West Bengal. He alleged that the second division was to come up in Pathankot but did not come up as a "China-loving" Prime Minister came to power.